CI Sequel: You Always Hurt the Ones You Love
by Lovelyfanfics
Summary: Well, for one thing, I don’t love you, she said.Softly he said, “You do love me. You’re just afraid to love me, afraid to depend on me too much. You may want to runaway from what we have, but I won’t let you.”
1. Ever Just the Same

Ever Just the Same 

Sebastian Valmont rolled over towards the middle of the bed and something, or rather someone stops him from moving further. Like a flash he bolts out of bed to sneak away from his bed companion. Not even risking a half-second for a glance at the girl, he searched the floor for his clothes. Only then did he realize that he was in his own room.

He has no worries now since he never brings difficult girls home, that is it should not be hard to get rid of the girl with a minimum of a fuss. The last thing Sebastian wants is a needy, weepy girl. He already has to deal with a killer hangover and whatever else he had done last night.

Releasing the breath he head been holding, Sebastian flops back on the left side of the bed and reaches into the nightstand for cigarettes and a lighter. He sees that his box of condoms is half empty. Finally curious, he leans over the girl, and reaches a hand out to push away the dark, brown hair but ends up stopping at the last possible moment. How many has he wanted the girl next to him to be her, his Kathryn? If just this once he could give in and let his fantasy play out, he could die a happy man.

This was a rare occurrence, not a stranger in his bed- but having a brunette in his bed, in his bedroom. After all he purposely avoided brunettes and only went for blondes and sometimes redheads. He knew it annoyed Kathryn somewhat that he preferred girls with direct opposite looks and traits of hers. He would not exactly call it jealousy, but he imagined Kathryn felt rejected that he avoided people that resembled her at all costs. Sebastian remembers her reaction to his last blonde, one night stand:

"God, could she be any easier. Did you have to read a lot of Dr. Seuss poetry or did she just jump right into bed?"

"Dr. Seuss writes poetry? I thought he wrote kids books with rhymes and stuff," Sebastian said with fake confusion. He loved her twisted, snarky replies: He loved goading her. Actually, he loved these verbal battles more than sex, well almost.

"Sebastian, Sebastian, you know the girls you so-call-date are too young or too stupid or both to understand anything else but picture books."

"Hey! That's not true," Sebastian thinks a bit and then nods. "No you're right. God…no one's challenging enough. Now my life has no meaning," he said sarcastically.

"You know what you need?" She waited a couple seconds before continuing. "You need a girl who has brains enough to fuck you good and proper."

"Last time I checked all it takes is a woman willing to follow directions to satisfy me. Now, if you're offering…"

Kathryn walked from the foyer to the living room, knowing he was following her. She sat down on the Queen Anne sofa and patted the space next to her, and smirked. "I think you wanted something," she said while blinking her eyes innocently. Standing in front of her and leaning in he pretended to kiss her, but pulled back before his lips met hers. He smirked back at her and moved his hand up her thigh and short dress. She leaned back on her arms and spread her legs. "I think we can make an arrangement. You scratch my itch and I'll scratch yours. Now down on your knees, Sebastian," she purred. She let him finger her, then she got up quickly when he when she was done, and left quickly saying some lame excuse. He did not remember what; all he recalled was how mad he was.

Coming out of his reverie, he looked in the direction of the girl again and tried to decide what to do with her.

Sebastian ends up stroking the girl's hair. He leans in some more to sniff her hair. Closing his eyes he tries to imagine it is Kathryn naked in his bed. He thinks about the little noises she makes when she gets really excited. 'Well, what the hell!' Sebastian thought. She would probably laugh at him and say he was a pussy getting all excited from smelling shampoo. But he did not care. He was sick of being teased to death; he would show her that all he ever felt for her was lust. Hopefully when he was through with ravaging the girl he could find some way for Kathryn to find out about his break from his brunette abstinence.

He stretched out on his side and pressed himself up against her butt. She stirred in her sleep and snuggled closer putting her whole body flush against his. Sebastian groaned and took a couple deep breaths to calm himself. He wanted to make it last, take things slow. He planned on enjoying this as much as possible.

Wrapping his arms around her slim body, he just enjoyed being able to hold her. Then, one of his hands traveled slowly towards the warm heart of her sex. He sought out the little nub that would give her the most satisfaction. He teased lightly and slowly at first. And then as he felt her heart and breathing increase, he intensified his efforts. At the same time his other played with her breasts. He set all his efforts on bringing her to her peak.

The girl in his arms arched her back and wiggled her butt into his groin. He could tell the moment she awoke because she stiffened in his arms and stopped moving. He stilled his movements and held his breath. In his mind it wasn't just a fantasy anymore. It _was_ Kathryn and she was going to scratch his eyes out and probably cry rape. He would not put it past her to ruin him, even though he was her stepbrother. She cleared her throat to speak, but Sebastian covered her mouth with his hand.

"Shh, shh...Shhhh."

He went back to his ministrations with his other hand, meanwhile watching for signs that she did not want this. Sebastian had never had to force anyone, and he didn't think it was fun that way anyway.

She took the hand over her mouth between her own two hands and placed it right over her left breast where her heart was beating a fast rhythm. Sighing deeply, she encouraged him to play with her breast.

Resting his chin on her shoulder and looking down at their hands, but avoiding her face, he watched and learned exactly how she liked to be touched. More than anything in the world, Sebastian wanted to please and satisfy this girl. It didn't matter if it was _her_ or not. He felt that his happiness depended on this hour, this girl. He would do anything, _anything_ to make her feel for him.

**Later**

After having made love to the brunette five times Sebastian felt he was really waking up, everything seemed clearer. Most of all he knew what he wanted.

He sits up and reaches for his discarded matches and cigarette. He turns and looks at the beautiful, naked back and dark brown hair of his angel. She is wonderful and perfect, too good for him. He lets out some expletives, sighs, and throws the matches and unlit cigarette onto the floor. He walks around her and the bed towards the bathroom.

A lightning fast hand grasps his wrist in a surprisingly hard grip.

"Where do you think you're going, loverboy? I'm not even close to being done with you," the beautiful Kathryn, lifted her face to look at him seductively.

Perhaps it was the hazy light or the heavy, languid feeling after being sexually satisfied that cause her to react so slowly. Or maybe it was the sudden fear and shock that she had made a grave mistake. Finally finding her voice, "Sebastian…um…what are you doing…in my…room." She looked around realizing where she was. She looked everywhere but at him. But then finally at their hands which seemed to have joined and now clung together like two children unknowingly racing towards a sharp drop in a ravine. She raised her eyes and looked at him standing above her. Sebastian moved cautiously towards her and she wrapped her arms around his waist forgetting about their state of undress.

"Sebastian…" she sighed absorbing the heat and masculine scent of him. After a while she released him and stood up. "I… I have to… I have a lot of things to do. I have to prepare for school; it's only 2 weeks away and I have a speech to write. I'll be very busy so…I have to go." She looked nervously at the door.

Sebastian felt a headache coming on. He was too distracted and stunned with what just happened to try to prevent her from leaving. He could not believe that it finally happened after three years of obsessing over her. He did not feel like he thought he would. His feelings were not satisfaction or smugness; he wanted to undo it, rewind to before he had found a girl in his bed. It had been fabulous, and yet it had not been. Everything is changed now. He waved his hand in response and said, "Go, then!" It came out more gruff and more short than her intended. He had always meant this moment to be special, the perfect moment to tell his angel that he would stop at nothing to make her his, only his. He stomped over to the bathroom, angry with himself for messing it up. He also felt an overshadowing guilt for betraying Annette, the girl he was not sure he loved anymore.


	2. What It Meant To You

What It Meant To You 

_**Sebastian's room, he just left her after the fact…**_

She just stood there surprised. It was not like she thought she was magical in bed. It was just she expected more from him. But he was like every guy she knew. They just used you, and left whenever they pleased. She had seen what her father had done to her mother. Well, he died, so it was not like he had much of a choice. Still, Sebastian was supposed to be enthralled by her, worship her. Kathryn's worst fears had happened; Sebastian had gotten what he wanted, was not impressed and now was bored with her. He did not want her anymore. He would never love her. Well, that was just fine with her. There were lots more guys out there that would be grateful that she gave them the time of day. She decided she would go visit Blaine to see if he could give her a pick me up or maybe she could take one his friends for a ride, gay or not.

When Sebastian came out of the bathroom all refreshed and clean, he halted expecting her to be still there, waiting for him. He knew her. She would never leave a fight without having the last word if she could help it. He was disappointed that what happened had not meant that much to her. She just left to do God knows what. Well, it meant a lot to him.

This was at the very least last-journal-entry material or ride-into-the-sunset-with-his-girl material. He only started his journal at his therapist request, but then somehow it became a book all about a certain manipulative seductress. He had hoped one day he would be able to put the book to rest, preferably by adding her as a conquest. And then this weird pull of hers would be gone. At least he could put the sex in his journal as something accomplished. He smirked. Kathryn would be furious when she found out he gave his journal to Annette.

"Crap, I can't believe I forgot." He was supposed to meet her in front of his house in case she forgave him. Then again, she never did ring the doorbell so she must not have forgiven him. Just in case he decided to go to her place one last time. Plus he wanted to get his journal back. He regretted ever giving it to her. Actually he would regret ever meeting her, but that would mean Kathryn would never have given into him.

Annette had always been a pawn. How else could he have proclaimed to love one girl and then very next day have sex with another? Obviously he had not changed as much as he thought. He cared nothing about Annette, right? He was just so confused.

Or maybe he was such a good actor he even fooled himself into believing he loved Annette. He wanted to see Kathryn knocked down a few pegs, so he decided to put his acting skills and good looks into good use. Of course, he never realized he had such deep feelings to work with. It had been his desire and infatuation with Kathryn that he had copied in order to woo Annette. It had all worked out as planned, until Kathryn revealed that Sebastian was only a toy to her. He had his pride and he would never let her know she had control over him. He would never let her know she had hurt him.

_**At Blaine's**_

"Blaine! Open the God damned door!" Kathryn had been at the posh 25th floor of Blaine's apartment for the past twenty minutes. She would have left by now if she did not really need a fix.

This was just one more thing to blame on Sebastian. She would never forgive him for taking advantage of her at a vulnerable moment. She had gone to his bed last night, sans clothes, because she was lonely and feeling sorry for herself. She had just wanted to fool around a bit, but she did not mean for it to cross _that _line. The line that enemies should not cross, let alone siblings- stepsiblings.

Kathryn bit her lip and worried for the hundredth time that there was something really wrong with her. Not only did she lust after her stepbrother, but also she actually enjoyed all the games they played. And she definitely liked how he made her feel just an hour ago. It was not like she never had a decent lay. He just made her feel like she was all he ever needed or wanted. No, past tense. He _used_ to make her feel desired.

Right now she felt sick with fear that she may have lost him. And it was not fair that her bliss, the heavenly illusion of their love, only lasted those feel minutes when she hugged him. It had felt like coming home.

"Blaine! Open up." She raised her hand again to pound on the door at the same time the door was opened by an Italian, svelte and very tanned man with only a towel around his waist.

"Well, well, hmm…where's our friend?" She leered appreciatively at his lean physique. She blinked her eyes at the man when he did not seem in a hurry to answer. She took a sigh and used her palm to push him in the chest so she could get inside. She stopped. It was a very nice chest and stomach, with nice muscles in all the right places. She pushed him out of the way, and stepped inside. The door made a loud noise in the silent room as she shoved the door closed.

They stood and stared at each other, waiting.

Perhaps he did not speak English. "Blaine," she enunciated slowly. "B-L-A—"

"Ah, ah…He's not here. How do you say? He's out…hanging out," the Italian replied in perfect English but with an accent. He smiled slowly showing one dimple then another. He did his own appraisal of Kathryn in her black halter jumpsuit.

"Like what you see?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"Most definitely." He placed an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the living room.

When they reached the couch, she became the aggressor. She pushed him on the couch and straddled his lap and dived in for a kiss.

He pulled back. "Wait. Not so fast, cara. How do you feel about being tied up?" He gave her his smile with those dimples again.

"Only if I get to tie you up first." She gave him a small coquettish smile in return.

"How about we take this to the bedroom?"

Kathryn shrugged and said, "Whatever you want, baby."

When Kathryn woke up, she immediately felt guilty. She thought by sleeping with someone else or getting high she would get rid of these feelings she had for her stepbrother. It was not okay to lust after him or enjoy sex with him and definitely not okay to want him to be…what? A boyfriend? A lover? A husband? Her mother was going to have a conniption if she found out.

What would Sebastian think? He would probably laugh at her. Or he might just play along for a while to lull her into a false sense of security. Then he would break her, just because he could. He would do it just to have a laugh and to defeat her at their games. It felt like it was all just a big game of poker. She was not sure if she was willing to lose her stake this time. This was not a simple bet anymore; this time it was her heart on the line.

In a daze, she gathered her things, and pulled on her clothes, and left without speaking to the Italian guy in bed. She did not even stop to search for Blaine. She just walked out onto the New York City night and walked a couple of blocks before thinking how her shoes were being ruined. She flicked her cell phone open and called home. She prayed that one of the butlers or maids would pick up and not Sebastian.

"Hello?" Sebastian said.

Looking skyward and taking a deep breath, she said, "Hi Sebastian. This is Kathryn." She mentally smacked her forehead. Of course he would know it was her; they had only lived together for three years. "Send Lyle to come pick me up."

"I'm sorry, I don't think Lyle is here right now. The parentals are home, and they had him drive them to a family dinner."

Urgh...then why aren't you there?"

"Well, **sis**. I was waiting for you so we can meet them there. I did not want you to have to arrive alone, all lonely and pathetic looking."

"Ahhh…how sweet. Not! Now come and pick me up."

"Tsk, tsk. Not when you ask like that. Anyway, I don't feel like going to dinner, especially if your mother is going to be there.

"Can she be any more desperate to fuck me?"

"In your dreams. She would never fuck you. You're almost half her age. Now come g-"

"You are going to have to talk sweeter than that to get me to give you a ride."

"That's not how it was this morning. It seemed like you like it rough. You were practically begging me to give you orders."

"No that's not true. If my memory serves me correct. You didn't make a sound, well talk at least." Sebastian was glad she brought up what happened this morning. He had no idea why he was wasting time teasing her when all he wanted to get her back home so he could kiss and fuck her silly.

"Never mind! I'm getting a cab. Where's the restaurant that our parents are at?"

She conceded first, so it was okay for Sebastian to concede. "Ok, I'll come get you.

Kathryn gave him the location and sat down on the bus bench to think and wait.


	3. Babysitter Kathryn

AN: You're just going to have to scroll. Sorry it's such a long chapter, but I consider this all one section. And I had the hardest time with the title as is, so I didn't want to have to think of more titles if I broke it into more sections.

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Babysitter Kathryn

Twenty minutes later Sebastian arrived in his 1956 Jaguar roadster.

"Kathryn, you're ride's here." He waited, but got no response. "Get in!" Sebastian yelled impatiently.

She stared daggers at him, but then remembered her resolve to be nicer to him. It was her way to make him think she was up to something. Yes, she did have a plan but it was not like any of her previous schemes. This one had a much more attractive prize at the end of the road: him as her slave.

"Oh, hi Sebastian. I didn't see you there. I hope we haven't kept our parents waiting too long," she breezed out. She opened her own door and got in the car. Sebastian started away from the curb without making sure she was in and buckled.

"Sebastian! God, are you…" Kathryn took a deep calming breath and returned her attention to the road. After a few minutes she said, "Thanks for picking me up. I really appreciate it." Her words were met with silence. She turned to face him. "What? I'm not good enough to talk to now?"

He lifted an eyebrow and gave her a quick glance. "No, of course not." He took one hand off the steering wheel and caressed her leg. He heard her sharp intake of breath and felt encouraged to move his hand higher up her leg. It seemed silly to be thrilled that she let him do that. He wanted to say 'No, of course not. You are good enough for a fuck. Maybe talking too, if that's what gets your engine running.' It was not that he liked being mean to her; it was just the first thing that popped into his head. He was used to belittling her and basically making her life miserable. He wasn't sure he could change. He could pretend to be nice for a while.

He searched his brain for something to compliment her about. "Did you do something with your hair? It looks nice," he said sincerely as he stopped the car in front of the restaurant and tossed the keys to the valet.

Kathryn sat there stunned as she watched Sebastian bounce into the restaurant.

The valet held the door open for her and said, "Miss, I need to go park the car."

She numbly got out. He has to be up to something, she thought. He's been acting unusual: not talking much, no quips, being _nice_. She was confused. Who was playing whom? Who held the higher poker hand?

She somehow walked into the restaurant, gave her name, and was guided to her table. She did not remember any of it. She was on auto pilot. She greeted her parents slipping easily into her good girl act. Somehow it was harder to use it on her stepbrother. Maybe, because he did not want to be fooled. She ordered her food, sat and listened to her parents talk about their separate trips, and pushed her food around on her plate.

She always ate only a little in front of her friends and family. She did not want her mother's criticism and she mostly did not want to get fat. It was her mother who taught her the diet "trick" of throwing up to manage her weight. Sometimes she really hated her mother. She was the reason why there was so much wrong with her.

How could her mother and stepfather expect her to live practically alone with her horny, teenage stepbrother and not want to fuck him? Yeah, there was something wrong with her. He was her stepbrother for goodness sakes. But to her sex, drugs, bulimia, playing with people were all the same things: it was a way of having control, controlling others or controlling her emotions- it was all the same. And this morning represented her lost of control.

Kathryn took a sip from her wineglass to wash down the bad taste that last thought left her. She actually felt embarrassed about what she did this morining and of wanting to do it again. She, who had sex with 47 guys (49, counting the two today), was uncomfortable with just sitting in the same room with _him_. It had not even been that good. Well to be honest, it had been the best she ever had. And that had to be the only reason why she wanted more, right? She took another sip of the wine.

Her mother gave her disapproving glance.

"May I be excused? I need to use the ladies' room," she asked her mother.

"Oh. Of course sweetie. Actually, why don't I join you. It would give us girls some time to chat."

Her mother headed towards the bathroom, and Kathryn got up to follow her. Sebastian grasped her wrist and said, "I have to go, too. Be right back, Dad."

She wretched her hand away and whispered, "What do you think you're doing, Sebastian? Do you want our parents to find out?"

"No, I'm just making sure you don't spill everything to that evil bitch," he said as he pulled her toward the direction of the bathroom.

"Oh!" she fumed and clenched her fists. "Well don't worry. I have no plans on telling _anyone_ about my lapse from sanity. Believe me, this morning was a mistake, and I don't want to _ever_ talk about it to _anyone_. Understood?"

He tilted his head to the side and looked at her hard. He let a moment pass before replying, "I think so. So what? We go back to the way things were? Pretend this morning never happened?"

"Yes, let's do that. And please no point in discussing what happened."

"Why not?"

"Because…"

"Because…?"

Kathryn chewed on her lip. She just wished he would tell her how silly she was being. There was no way anything would be normal again. But instead he was waiting for her to explain herself. Maybe he just liked making her feel uncomfortable, putting her on the spot. Why could he not just say to the hell with it, and grab her and kiss her. That way she would not have to think anymore. She could never think whenever he kissed her. All she could do was feel. God, she really needed some coke right now.

"Well…?" he asked.

"Because…because bb-because there's no point in talking about something that had no meaning."

"I guess you've said all that needs to be said."

They had reached the bathroom. He tried to walk away, but she put her hand on his arm to stop him. Then, before she could say anything, her mother came out of the bathroom.

Running into Sebastian she said, "Oh, excuse me. Sebastian? What…? Never mind." She turned to Kathryn. "I need to talk to you Kathryn. Now! If you'll excuse us, Sebastian," she said dismissively.

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders and left. Mother and daughter walked into the bathroom each deep in their own thoughts. Kathryn really wanted some coke right now, but she would have to wait. Her eyes met her mothers in the mirror and saw her frowning.

"What?" Kathryn said.

Staring hard at her daughter, Tiffany said, "I know what you've been up to. What do you think you're doing?"

Kathryn's eyes widen and her heart thumped quite loudly. She felt like she was going to faint. Did her mother know? How could she? Was it written on her face? But there was no way her mother could know. After all, had she not gotten away with worse things? Still none of them were as important as this. Whenever her mother found out what was important to Kathryn, she would take it away. Her mother had done that with her beautiful horse Summer, which she had from the ages of 8 to 13. It was her punishment for real father loving her more.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, mother."

"You are not going to embarrass me. I won't allow it."

"What are you babbling about? Are you on something?" Kathryn was tired of being scared. Let her just come right out and say it plainly.

"I got a call from Gillian Moraine, Carla's mother, that she saw you leaving Blaine Tuttle's house last Sunday."

"Ok, since when have you cared about where and to whom's house I go to?"

"Just answer me, young lady!"

"Yeah, I was there to babysit. His 4-year old cousin, Matthew, had come over from another state to visit. I was just helping a friend. Is that wrong?"

"Well…no. But I thought he was…you know…gay?" she whispered the last part.

Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest Kathryn said, "Yeah, he is. Is that all?"

"Isn't he also a drug dealer?"  
"Mother, those are just rumors. Why would he need money? His family is rich."

"Well, ok. I guess I overreacted. Can you fault a mother for caring."

"Mother, you're about as much of a mother as a dog could be a mother to a kitten."

"Well, I mean to try harder in the future. I've been reading books on parenting, and Dr. Lauren Brown says that I need to set boundaries and communicate more with you. I thought maybe we could spend some quality time together, just the two of us?"

"Sure, mother, That would be fun," Kathryn said just to agree. Hopefully her mother would forget about it or decide to go on another trip.

"Great! Let's go back and join our men."

Edward stood up as the women approached the table. He hurried to pull out his wife's chair and smiled down at her. Kathryn meanwhile was trying to figure out what twilight zone she had fallen into. She turned to her stepbrother for clues. He just shrugged his shoulders; he seemed to be doing a lot of that tonight. It made him seem like he did not care about much. Maybe this morning did not mean anything to him, Kathryn could not help thinking.

Still standing Edward clinked his wineglass with his silverware. "Your mother and I have special news. Dear, you want to tell them?"

Tiffany blushed prettily and said, "Edward, you're embarrassing me. You tell. Wait! I'll tell. Well kids…" Tiffany seemed to be shy all of the sudden.

Kathryn rolled her eyes and wished she would get on with it. She reached for her wineglass to take a sip.

"I'm pregnant!"

Kathryn sprayed her drink all over Sebastian, who was sitting across from her. "What!" she said turning towards her mother.

Taking her hands in hers Tiffany gushed, "Isn't it great? I get to get another perfect girl like you. It'll be so much fun. We can both teach her all the great things about being a girl. Oh, Kathryn. Tell me, aren't you just so happy? I remember how much you hated being an only child, and now…"

"Mother, I'm not an only child. I have Sebastian. And besides I won't be around next year; I'll be at college. Why would you want another baby? You've complained enough about how much trouble I was when I was younger."

"Well I think it's great," Sebastian finally spoke up. "Kathryn and I will even babysit sometimes. It'll be fun, Kathryn. Kathryn the babysitter, babysitter Kathryn. It sort of has a nice ring to it." He smirked at her.

"I don't think so." Kathryn got up out of her chair suddenly and threw her napkin down. "Mother, hire the best damn nanny you can buy as soon as you pop it out. Cause I'm not going to have anything to do with it!" She stormed out of the restaurant nearly in tears.

Kathryn could not believe that Sebastian was taking her mother's side, their parents' side. It seemed everyone was overjoyed and delusional about this baby. The baby would cause many sleepless nights; even in their large house a screaming baby would be quite too much noise. This was the last thing that she needed. She hated babies. And her parents would also be home more, if not all the time. Life could not get any worse.


	4. Only the Lonely

**AN:** Ok, raise your hands if you love Annette? Cause this chapter portrays her as too kindhearted, always wanting to understand and give people second chances. Makes you want to puke. : D

There'll be more plot in the next chapter.

**Anyway, onto the response to the reviews:**

valmontmerteuil- this chapter lets you walk around a little inside Sebastians head and get all comfy- Enjoy!

xo going nowhere- it would have been too easy to just have them kiss. And Kathryn must have been really out of sorts to forget her mother or father could catch them. Also she's just too much of a control freak to let a slip up change anything.

death eater- sorry to dissapoint, but that's just the tip of the iceberg on the angst in this story

ocfan108- ok, I seriously agonized over writing the new summary (took me over an hour, seriously.) So what do you think?

Nicole A.K.A slay4you1978- I hope you're still reading...

And oh yeah, to everyone who might be reading my other CI stories, I'm probably going to let them rest for a while so I can focus on this one.

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**Only the Lonely**

Kathryn could be really self-centered sometimes Sebastian thought as he walked into the three-story townhouse at 3 am in the morning. After last night's _special_ dinner, he had gone out to a club he frequented. He had meant to pick up a girl and have a night of mindless sex, but things had not worked out as planned.

_**Last night at the club**…_

Sebastian felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around from the bar to see Annette. His eyes widened, surprise was an understatement. And then he noticed who she was with. "Blaine," he said clearing his throat and took a drink of his scotch. "I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see my ex-girlfriend with my gay friend. Is that where you were all day?" he asked Annette.

With her arms crossed she frowned at him and said, "I think you owe your friend a word of thanks. He's the one who convinced me to read your sordid journal." She threw it on the bar and tilted her head towards it. "So tell me, was I only a bet?"

"I could say you weren't, but you probably wouldn't believe me."

"Well, I'll leave you kids to hash it out. Catch you tomorrow Sebastian," said Blaine not wanting to stay for the showdown.

Sebastian just nodded his head towards Blaine and returned his attention to the blonde's inquiring eyes.

"What do you want me to say? You want me to beg? I'm sick of girls thinking they're all that. God…I haven't had the best day, so just forgive me if I don't feel like kissing your ass."

He looked clearly drunk. Ignoring the last comment, she said, "So, you don't want to get back with me? Is that why you gave me the journal yesterday? And why you waited at my Aunt's house all day today?"

"God, Annette. Could we talk about this another time?"

"No! I think this is probably the only time you'll be honest with me, when you are too plastered to keep up your charade. Did you ever love me?"

"Honestly, I don't know. We're too young to know what love is. Who knows what the grand scheme of things is? Maybe humans are here just to mindlessly fuck, have babies, move on to the next person and do it all over again. We are all just animals. Did you know that only 2 of the animal kingdom is monogamous throughout their lifetimes?"

Shaking her head she said, "This is a waste of my time. But we are definitely going to have a talk tomorrow, Sebastian, when you're sober."

Sebastian was not really all that drunk and he did not believe all that crap he just said. He just did not want to talk to anyone right now. He also was too numb and occupied with his brooding thoughts to come up with better, nicer conversation.

God, to think, there will be another Merteuil in nine months. It did not matter that half of the kid's genes would come from his dad. The kid was going to end up an exact copy of Tiffany, a terrible mess. Sebastian did not really care what his parents did as long as he still got his trust fund and dear old Dad still let him run wild.

'To you, Tiffany, for screwing Kathryn over when I couldn't' he thought and raised his glass in salute as if Tiffany was there.

A tall, leggy redhead at the end of the bar winked back at him. He smiled back but turned and faced the other direction when it looked like she was headed his way.

**End of flashback**

So here he was back at home, and he still hadn't had anymore insight on what to do about Kathryn. Ignore her? Ha. He already tried that at dinner. But then she had to be so cruel when he had wanted to talk about this morning. Ok, so he was not any better; he could have laid out his cards first. But he had been afraid she would laugh at him again.

Even now after finally getting to bed his stepsister and getting the last laugh- it had been so funny to see Kathryn overreact over the baby news- he had been too depressed to want to fuck some random girl. Though the redhead looked like she was quite flexible and with those legs…

But he felt broken, like she had taken his balls. He was amazed what Kathryn had reduced him to. After she had made her dramatic exit, he had to stifle the urge to chase after her. He was all muddled and confused about which girl he wanted. Maybe he should just choose neither one of them. Life had been much easier before The Bet.

He could not really pinpoint when his feelings for Kathryn had changed, but it had happened without him knowing it. So he was thrown for a loop when she said he was only a toy to be played with. He should not have cared. And he may have felt angry that she had manipulated him again like every other time. But it was something else that really bothered him. This time Kathryn had gone too far, and she had done it out of selfishness and plain cruelty. She had laughed at him; she had played him just to hurt him. There seemed to be an unspoken rule that they would never turn their cruel intentions on each other. They could manipulate, tease, fight for dominance, but never that.

And so he declared war, not because she refused him, but because she hadn't accepted his olive branch. He would have been able to forgive her for laughing at him, if she had just apologize by giving him…what?…sex. Yup, what could he say? He was a very simple man. He didn't really need I love you's and tears. He didn't go for that crap; he knew people could lie quite easily. And Kathryn was the best actress, she could shred tears on cue.

He really dreaded having to see her in the morning. He did not want to act desperate again. "Arggghh…she's only one girl. Not like she's the best," he mumbled into his pillow as he tried to fall asleep. He knew it was going to be a long night.


	5. Honey, My Kid Needs to be Shrunked

**AN:** Ok, you lucky ducks. You get another update. You guys are so lucky that I am a late night writer and that I have a compulsion to have someone read what I've written right away. Hence all the frequent updates. I can't say that I'll always be so possessedby a powerful muse.

**Question: **Do you want Annette to be a roadblock for K/S relationship? Or Italian guy? Or Carla Moraine? (the girl's mom told Tiffany about Blaine) And Matthew (Blaine's 4-year-old nephew) will probably be in the story, but I don't know how much. He might just be mentioned in passing, or he might have some comical scenes.

**VERY IMPORTANT  
**Okay, I think this might be an important chapter. I think some might be able to guess where I'm going with this, so please don't spoil it for others. **Do not put your predictions in the reviews.** You can email predicitons to me if you have to. And I'll tell you if you're right, but I won't tell you out right unless you guessed correctly or close to correct. Please, it's not a hot/cold game, so don't send me a bunch of random guesses. So just be patient. Hopefully I can make this story last more than a dozen chapters.

**

* * *

Honey, My Kid Needs to Be Shrunked  **

_Dining Room of Valmont house, early morning_

Sebastian walks tiredly into the dining room where he sees that Tiffany and Edward are already seated across from each other eating breakfast. He sits down next to his father and stares at the place setting across from him. It still has most of its food on it.

"Oh, Sebastian. Perfect timing, we were just talking about you. You're mother made you a doctor's appointment; it's at 2:00 pm. Make sure to be on time," his father said.

"She's not my mother," he said in response to his dad. "Hey, Tiff," he said with fake sincerity. "How's the morning sickness? Not dreaming about fish or smelly, fried greasy food are you?" he goaded.

"Sebastian…" his father said in a warning tone.

Tiffany sat up straighter and said proudly, "Luckily, We Merteuil women hardly suffer any symptoms of pregnancy."

"Except for getting fat," Sebastian said.

"Sebastian! I will not have you speaking to your mother that way. Now, apologize."

"Sorry Tiff, I didn't mean anything by that. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful pregnancy. Forgive me?" Sebastian said turning on his charm.

"That's fine Sebastian. Just don't do it again." After a pause she says, "Oh, you have to pick Kathryn up from the country club after her tennis lessons. And then you both havetogotoyourappointment."

Putting his hand to his ear, Sebastian cocked his head and said, "What was that?"

Tiffany gave Edward a regretful look. She repeated herself, "You have to bring Kathryn to your doctor's appointment."

"Wait what kind of appointment is this? (beat) You aren't sending me to another shrink, are you?" Seeing the looks on their faces, he cursed and said, "You'll never get her to go. She hates doctors, and I'm pretty sure shrinks are on the list too. Not to mention after what I did to Dr. Rosenbaum and her lovely daughter-"

"Sebastian, you're both going. You are not wheedling yourself out of this one. And I don't care what you have to do to convince your stepsister to go! Just do it! Your mother doesn't want any bad energy to affect the baby, granted the baby's not here yet. But…"

Tiffany glares at Edward. "Anyway, do as I say," Edward continues and straightens his tie in nervousness. "I have some papers I must sign at the office, so… I'll see you later, dear," he says as he kisses Tiffany on the cheek.

A couple awkward minutes go by wherein they try to make small talk. Then Tiffany mentions school as subtle as she can. "So, school's about to start in exactly two weeks. Have you gotten all your supplies yet?"

"Yeah, sure…" Sebastian said, unsure why Tiffany would ask such a bizarre question. It must be those weird pregnancy hormones.

"And you probably don't have much to do for those whole two weeks you have free."

"No, I'm pretty busy," he says without making eye contact. He has a strong feeling that she's propositioning him. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. It is not like he is usually like this, awkward around older women- actually he has bedded quite a few. She was Kathryn's mother for goodness sakes. He had no qualms about incest, unless it was his father and Kathryn. Yeah, that one definitely went beyond the ick factor.

He had no idea why he was even thinking about this stuff. Maybe the lack of sleep was getting to him. At least Tiffany stopped talking to him, since he did not try to elaborate about what he would be busy doing.

"Well I have to get started on some early school reading," he said. They both knew he was lying.

"Sure, Sebastian. You're excused to go."

He left with much relief. He went back to his room and picked up his journal to write about, who else, but Kathryn. Three months. That's how long he had this journal. It was sort of funny how he never wanted to go into therapy, but now he had become addicted to journaling his conquests. It was quite satisfying. And equally ironic, he got to put his therapist's daughter on his list. And now it seemed he was going his head analyzed again. Whatever. At least one good thing about this- Kathryn would have to talk to him.

Office of Janine Hall, M.D. psychiatrist, 2:15pm 

Kathryn and Sebastian were seated on a cream colored couch in front of the therapist who was seated in a dark green armchair with a notebook. There was a beautiful view of the skyline of New York City through the wall to wall glass window behind the doctor. The siblings were seated as far away from each other as possible, and neither of them were looking at each other.

"Ok, now that I've explained the rules K-" Janine was saying.

Sebastian interjected, "Wait, let me get this straight, I'm talking to you. And she's talking to you." He pointed at Kathryn. The psychiatrist nodded. "And you interpret for us to the other person?" She nods again. "And our parents are paying you double the price for us so you can waste half are time when we could just talk to each other."

"I don't think you see the point Sebastian. Most people talk _at _each other not _to _each other. This session is to help you communicate more effectively and to help you respect your sister and women in general," Dr. Hall explained.

Sebastian should have expected that he would not get anything useful out of this therapy session. He never did.

"Stepsister. We're stepsiblings," Kathryn said with little emotion.

He smirked laughing inside about her anal compulsion to always correct people on that. "She likes to remind herself that I'm half a forbidden fruit," he said turning his smile on Kathryn.

"Oh, please," Kathryn said rolling her eyes at him. "He likes to think that looks are everything, and that he is so irresistible."

"Isn't it, and aren't I? What do you think, Janine?"

"It's Dr. Hall, Sebastian. And I think Sebastian brings up an important point, Kathryn. What do you feel when someone identifies you as Sebastian's sibling instead of stepsibling?"

"I thought we were play that telephone communication-like game."

"You're avoiding the question," Sebastian gleefully said.

"Sebastian, shh," the therapist said.

"This is suppose to be Sebastian's therapy session. He just dragged me along."

"Kathryn nothing you say will leave this room. No ones judging you here. Just answer the question I asked. What do you feel when someone identifies you as Sebastian's sibling instead of stepsibling?" Dr. Hall asked gently.

"Urgggh! Well how would you feel to have to be associated with such a loser."

She glanced at him.

His face was devoid of any humor now. He did not look angry or hurt. He actually looked bored. But that is the way he intended it. He was just as good as an actor as her, and it was not like he had not been prepared for her reaction. He knew when she was lying or telling the whole truth. He had pretty much been correct when he said she saw him as a half forbidden fruit with the stepbrother label.

She corrected her tone to be more pleasant: her _I'm a good girl, really I am _act. "I mean he isn't the easiest to get along with, and I'm sure my mom wouldn't want him to bring my reputation down. He sort of rubs people the wrong way. He affects everyone he comes in contact with. I'm sure you've heard of Dr. Rosenbaum's daughter and..."

"Oh, yes. Of course," she frowns at Sebastian, looks at her watch and then coughs to cover it up.

He could see how hard it was for her to be objective and professional to him. He bet she would only last two weeks top as his therapist. She would probably faint if he even did anything remotely inappropriate. She reminded him of a mousy schoolteacher, but not as ugly. Yeah, she wasn't bad to look at. He wondered what she would do if he suggested that have they have a ménage á trois, right now in this office.

"Ok, let's try taking turns expressing ourselves. Kathryn, why don't you start first. You can say anything you want, anything that's on your mind," Dr. Hall said while gesturing with her hands.

"Well, I don't like that I have to be in this therapy session with Sebastian."

"Sebastian, do you have a response for that?"

"Well, neither of us had a choice in the matter. If you hadn't-"

"A-a, Sebastian, don't use the word 'you.' We don't want to be accusatory. This is a judge free zone. And talk to me, not Kathryn."

"Alright, I _feel_ that…our parents felt you, I mean someone…ahhh, forget." Turning to Kathryn he said, "Why did you blow up last night at dinner? Would it have killed you to put on your mary sunshine act?"

The therapist responded quickly with, "Sebastian, let me see if I'm hearing you correctly. You are angry that Kathryn did not behave in a predictable manner?"

He sighed with frustration. "No-o, she acted like an ass last night. Maybe she had PMS or she forgot to take her happy pills."

All Kathryn did was roll her eyes, and wore a face that said 'see what I have to put up with.'

"Hmm…hmm…Sebastian I'd like you to try this," the therapist steepled her fingers and tapped them against her lips in concentration. "Fill in this sentence. I like it when Kathryn…" She held a warning finger, "And refrain from using foul language."

Not evening trying to conceal it, Sebastian glanced at his watch and saw that they still had over 20 minutes left before the 50 minute session was over.

"I like it when Kathryn…" He couldn't help licking his lips as he looked at Kathryn lasciviously.

"Sebastian, don't you dare…" Kathryn warned.

"I like it when Kathryn laughs, the real kind when she isn't being cruel. It's sort of musical."

"Okay, that's good Sebastian. Now tell me the last time you heard her laugh and how you felt?" Dr. Hall had no idea what she had just stepped into. He paused so long that she was getting ready to try another question or phrasing of the question.

He looked at Kathryn quickly and then looked at the carpet in front of him. "It was the day before last. She called me a loser and that she didn't…she called me a loser." He sat straighter, looked at Dr. Hall and shrugged his shoulders. "Then she laughed." He chuckled nervously and looked at the door.

They all sat in silence for a while. Sebastian kept staring at the door. He wished someone would say something. From experience he knew the therapist was just waiting for someone, in other words the patient, to break and gush out with all those bottled emotions and stuff. He guessed it was cathartic, but you could only do it so many times. He did not think it really helped. Usually he just filled the awkward silences with crude jokes or comments or even colorful songs. It was fun to mess with a therapist's head.

"He hurt me, so I hurt him back," Kathryn said to Dr. Hall. "Isn't that how we always done it, Sebastian?"

"What did I ever do to you that was so bad?" Sebastian asked surprised that she was revealing some emotion. Since _that_ morning, it seemed to him that, she had avoided any emotion that wasn't anger. Actually she avoided him period.

She sighed, "Not, really you I guess. Your father. He married my mother. I'd rather it had just been her and me. He changes her. She tries to be somebody she's not around him. Just look at what she's doing now. She's going to have his baby, and trying to be all-maternal around me. She never cared about me before, how can she try now when I've pretty much grown up without her for 17 years?"

"And why did you react to the news of the baby the way you did," Dr. Hall asked Kathryn softly.

Sebastian watched Kathryn's lowered head and how her hands played with the hem of her skirt. They all waited for her response.

"It's personal."

"It's okay Kathryn. You can say it when you're ready. I won't push you," Dr. Hall said.

"I'm not ready, not today," she said shaking her head and biting her bottom lip to keep from crying.

Sebastian was confused and dumbfounded. He thought he knew everything about Kathryn. He was distracted throughout the rest of the session. He guessed the ride home would be very different from the ride there, where he had tried to get her to talk about _that _morning. But she had been adept at avoiding and distracting him, telling him local gossip, making fun of him, and even resorting to offering a blowjob just to distract him.

Yeah the ride home would be different. It would be silent. Cause what could he say about something she didn't want to talk about. It didn't help that he didn't know what was going on inside her head, or let alone what this big personal thing was. For all he knew, she could be just faking it. But then why would Tiffany want her daughter to get therapy, because obviously that had been the plan all along. It hadn't escaped Sebastian's notice that the cradle-robbing mother had been nervous about asking for his help to get Kathryn to the shrink's office. What exactly was Kathryn's boogie man?

* * *

**VERY IMPORTANT**

Okay, I think this might be an important chapter. I think some might be able to guess where I'm going with this, so please don't spoil it for others. **Do not put your predictions in the reviews.** You can email predictions to me if you have to. And I'll tell you if you're right, but I won't tell you out right unless you guessed correctly or close to correct. Please, it's not a hot/cold game, so don't send me a bunch of random guesses. So just be patient. Hopefully I can make this story last more than a dozen chapters.


	6. Some Psychological Help

**Some Psychological Help**

_**Mother** _

Kathryn could not believe how much work therapy was. She did not know how Sebastian had done it for 3 months. She wondered what she would have to do to get out of it.

After getting back from the therapist's office, Sebastian and she had gone their separate ways without saying a word. It was fine with her; she really didn't want him to pry.

He had looked uncomfortable at the psychiatrist office once the session had gotten serious. Who even knew he had a nervous side? She would have found it amusing if she had not been so focused on her own problem.

Yeah, so she had a past that would not leave her alone, big fucking boo-hoo. Kathryn was not going to sit around and cry about it. She would do what she usually did: she was going to go shopping and then go to a party where there would be lots of debauchery.

"Kaaathrynnnnn!" Oh, God it was her mother. "Kaaaaaathrynnnnn!" Her mother then came from down the hall and stopped at her door. "Oh, hi Kathryn. I thought it would be nice to go shopping together. You didn't have anything else planned, did you?"

Kathryn was seated in her dark blue room, on her bed, reading a fashion magazine. "Yeah, actually I have to meet a friend," she lied quite easily.

"Well you could probably cancel. I'm sure they'll understand. Just tell them you have to spend time with your mother," she smiled brightly. It was not a request, she pretty much expected her to follow her demand.

"So…" Tiffany said as she walked tentatively into the room and sat at the end of the bed.

"So?" Kathryn said as she flipped through her magazine.

"How did the therapy session go?"

"It was fine," she said her eyes still glued to the magazine.

"So, everything was just fine?"

"Yeah."

"Ok…Do you want to talk about anything? Anything you want to share?"

"No, not really."

"Kathryn, really!" Tiffany got up from the bed exasperated "You have to talk about it sometime. Dr. Lauren Brown says-"

"Mother, just let it go! It happened four years ago. Let it die, already!" Kathryn bit her lip at her choice of word. Die. Damn, it was harder to forget than she liked. She got up and turned her back on her mother. "I think you should leave."

If her mother had been a different mother she would have hugged her, comforted her, and told her that she loved her. But she was not like other mothers. She never would be.

"Alright, I'm going to…we'll go shopping some other time. And if you need to talk…"

"Bye!" Kathryn said curtly. She continued to stand in the middle of the room with her arms around her waist.

"God, I thought she would never leave!" Sebastian said as he came out of her closet. He sat on her bed and picked up the magazine and glanced through it. His hands seemed to need to be in constant motion. She gave a small smile as she realized why. He was nervous to be around her.

**_Sebastian Part 1_**

"Trying on my dresses again, Sebastian? Find anything you'd like to borrow," she teased. She turned around and sat on the bed close by him. He may have had a gay friend, but Sebastian was afraid of homosexuality. She loved making him feel uncomfortable. It was so cute how his lips pursed, his eyebrows came together and that crinkle formed on his forehead. Her smile widened.

"No, hardly. But why don't you go in there and model that white one with the little pink rossettes along the bottom. You know, the one you save for your special company."

"You went through my lingerie! God, you're a pervert!" She shot up from the bed.

"Yeah, not like you didn't know that." He grasped her hand and pulled her down onto the bed again. He pushed her onto her back and hovered his face over hers. He gave her an Eskimo kiss. Then he moved in for a real kiss.

"Sebastian, what are you doing?" she asked softly, her lashes fluttering closed. She felt him pull back, but she kept her eyes closed. She would usually push him off of her and then say some snide remark that would make him storm off mad. She arched her back and rubbed her body against his. But she was tired of resisting, and really there was no point when they had already done the deed before. The only way to keep him interested was to use sex to control him. Yeah, she was only giving in cause he wanted it. She could get sex anywhere if she wanted. He did not mean a thing to her she tried to convince herself.

She put one hand on his neck and pulled him in and kissed one corner of his lip than the other. She then used her tongue to lick his bottom lip and moved on to taste his neck.

"Mmmm…that feels nice," Sebastian said. "Wait, now…arrrmmm…I was suppose to remember something. Aaaahhh…wait Kathryn stop!" Kathryn ignored him and moved her hands to pull his shirt out of his pants. He grabbed her wrists. "Didn't you hear me! Stop for a minute. I need to think."

She looked questioningly at him. He sat up, and when that didn't help, he got up off the bed and paced the room. He wiped his face with one hand while the other rested on his hip. Kathryn stared at him trying to figure him out. What had gotten into him? He thinks too much. God, Annette must have affected him more than she thought. He _is_ turning into a pussy.

"God, Sebastian! There was a time before Dorothy arrived that you would have fucked anything without a dick. What exactly do you want?"

"I just need to think for a minute! Geez! Just give me a minute."

"Maybe I should just go find someone else who can do the job."

He stalked over to the bed and stared down at her. "You're a slut, you know that? Don't I mean anything to you?"

"Ha! Sebastian, wasn't it you who once said that we were too cold-hearted for anyone to love, that we were two of a kind? You expect me to feel _anything_ for you when you call me names and kick me when I'm down. You're worst than me."

He put his hands on her upper arms and tried to pull her in for a hug, but she pushed him away. She moved further back on the bed towards the headboard. She started to pull her clothes off, while staring at him challengingly in the eye.

**_Sebastian Part 2_**

His eyes widened in disbelief. "You still want to have sex? What exactly are you trying to avoid? What are you afraid of?"

"Why does it have to be about anything? I just want to fuck, okay? Is it wrong for a girl to know what she wants?" she said crawling closer to him with each word. She kneeled on the bed and looked up at him through her lashes. She took his hand gently and licked and sucked on his index finger.

"Kathrynnnn." He moaned. "Kathryn." He cleared his throat and said seriously this time. "We really need to talk. I remembered what I wanted to ask you."

"Ok," she said resigned and settled back on her haunches. She did not know if she would answer him truthfully. It all depended on what he asked.

"Do you trust me? Do you trust that I would never hurt you on purpose?"

"Is that all? That's what you stopped this for," she said waving at her skirt and tank on the bed. He nodded. She rolled her eyes. "Sure," she said casually.

"Really?"

For the first time in a long time she decided to not play games and answer truthfully. "Yeah, I mean, you and my _real_ dad are the only men I would trust. Well, I mean, I trust my mom too. But sometimes I doubt that she wants the best for me. Why did you want to know?"

"What were you and your mom talking about?"

"Shopping, she wants to prove that she can parent," she sneered.

"That's not what I meant. What exactly happened four years ago? It was before our parents met, wasn't it?"

"Sebastian, I don't want to talk about it!" He quirked an eyebrow. "Don't look at me like that! I **_do_** trust you, but I still don't want to talk about it, not with you, not with my mom, and not with a therapist!"

After a moment, she said angrily, "Was that all? Any more questions that you're just _dying_ to ask?"

"I just don't get it. Why won't you tell me?"

She stood up and walked to the center of the room, and he followed her. "Sebastian, you remember what Dr. Hall said today?" she said patiently. He nodded. "Well, when I'm ready, I'll tell you. You just have to respect my privacy."

"I guess…what about what I said today? Do you remember?"

"What?"

"I said I like your laugh and…"

"Oh," she said finally getting it. "Awwwww, did I hurt the poor baby's feelings?" she cooed at him and patted his shoulder condescendingly.

"God, Kathryn! You don't know when to quit it with the jokes, do you? And after I was trying to be so understanding."

"Nothing's changed Sebastian. The sex, the soon-to-be new sibling, you knowing I have a haunting past, this talk- it all amounts to nothing. And anyway, I thought you declared war on me after I laughed at you and called you a loser. I guess you don't have the balls anymore. I guess you can just go running back to your little Ann-"

He slapped her hard. The sound echoed in the room and surprised her more than the stinging pain did. She let her mouth hang wide open in shock. He had slapped her before, but it had been different. No, actually the circumstances were the same. But she hadn't retaliated. She hadn't followed up with her plan to get Ronald mad at him. Instead she had gone and visited Blaine and his nephew, Matthew, again.

**_Harder_**

"I'm so sorry Kathryn. I shouldn't have done that."

She shook her head at him, and refused to speak.

"It's just that you make me _so_ mad sometimes. Urgggh." He turned away from her with clenched fists. "You know, it's your fault. You push people away on purpose. It's harder for someone to love a cold-hearted person."

"Well, at least you called me a person. Usually you'd just call me a bitch."

He turned back around and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry."

Was he really? In those two words she wondered if he was apologizing for more than slapping her or for calling her a bitch in the past. Maybe he was wishing that her life had turned out differently for her, that she was a different person. Someone he could easily love, like Annette. God, she really hated Annette.

A couple moments past, and then Kathryn broke away from the embrace.

"You said 'harder,'" she said thinking over his words.

"What?" he blinked surprised, thinking of naughty things. After all, she was only in her red, lacy underwear.

"You said, 'It's harder for someone to love a cold-hearted person.' instead of 'It's _hard_ for someone to love a cold-hearted person.' or 'it's _impossible_…'"

"I was just making a statement," he said backtracking looking like a cornered rabbit. "It didn't mean anything."

She smiled and laughed, the kind he liked. "You love me," she singsonged. She laughed again and smacked him playfully on the chest. Then she was stopped by the look in his eyes and noticed he was serious, not mad. She meant only to tease him about his word choice. "Oh, my God. You do love me. I mean I always suspected you had feelings for me. You used to sneak into my room just to watch me sleep. Ha. You thought I didn't know that. But I thought it was just..just…just an obsession of yours or something. I mean I knew it wasn't just lust. It was-" she rambled nervously.

"Kathryn!" he said shaking her. He raised his eyebrows. "You're freaking out. Wait…how did you know it wasn't just lust? I didn't even know, not until…hmmm." He went and sat down on the bed.

She put her clothes back on, and then sat next to him too. "So, what do we do about this," she said breaking the silence.

"What do you mean, what do we do? It's my problem! I mean it's not like you love me or something." He looked away from her.

She placed her hand on his cheek and forced him to face her. Caressing his cheek with her thumb, she thought there was no reason not to tell him. She was not sure herself, but she did want to make up for hurting him. Maybe she was in love with him. It _was_ hard for her to convince herself that it was only sex. It was only sex with other people, not with him. "I love you, Sebastian," she whispered as she gave him a soft kiss. She then kissed him again and looked into his eyes searching for what…? She didn't know.

"I don't know if I can believe you."

"You want me to prove it to you!" she said incredulously.

"Yeah, actually that would be nice," he said pulling her onto his lap. "But completely unnecessary."

"Really!"

"Yeah," he said laughing. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he gave her a smoldering kiss. She was pulling his shirt out of his waistband and they were giggling deliriously happy when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

She looked at Sebastian alarmed. Her heart would have started beating faster if it could have, but it was already at full gallop out of anticipation and nervousness. She really wanted the time when they first made love to be special. Oh God! She was starting to think corny thoughts. What had Sebastian reduced her to?

"Who is it?" she called out angrily.

"I was wondering if you knew where Sebastian is? I'm a friend of Sebastian's. My name's Annette-" The door opened. "Hardgrove," Annette finished. "You must be Kathryn," she said after a beat. She looked past Kathryn, "_Interesting_ room. So do you know where he is?"

Kathryn stood at her door and shrugged her shoulders. "Nope, no idea. But I'll tell him you were looking for him." When Annette didn't leave right away she said, "Was there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, it's just that…never mind," Annette said walking away.


	7. Love Me Tender

**AN:** Hi, ok maybe I should explain my writing process. I pretty much imagine a stage where I have these actors and they're the onesshowingme the story. I think it was **xo going nowhere** said it correctly when she told me that most writers don't know where their stories are going, it just sort of flows out. And also it's a little crazy cause the characters become so real, it's like they're talking to you. Anyway I feel that I'm not in control of the story, so sorry **ocfan108** if you don't think Kathryn and Sebastian are acting the way you think they should.

Really I do try to take control of the story and be logical, but I think one or more of the characters have hijacked my story. :(

_**

* * *

Love Me Tender**_

"Is she gone?" Sebastian said as he walked out of the bathroom, his shirt fixed.

"Yeah," she sighed and shut the door. "So that's Annette? Hmmm…"

"What?" he said grabbing her around the waist and guiding her to the bed.

"She's a lot smarter than I thought."

"Why do you say that," he said distractedly while kissing her face and neck.

"I think she knows something. I'm not sure what though. She just gave me this look."

"It's all in your head. Now I tell you, if you don't get naked right now, I'll give you a look that you can't misinterpret."

"Oooooh, maybe you should spank me."

"Why? You into that sort of thing?" he said surprised.

"Yeah, among other things," she said as she grabbed his shirt and ripped it open.

"Hey, that's an $120 dollar shirt."

"Forget about it, I'll buy you a new one." She kissed him hard and ran her hands up and down his chest.

Breaking from the kiss, he said, "Or you could sew the buttons on and mend the shirt."

"Very funny, I don't sew." She pulled off his shirt and took hers off too.

"You could learn," he said running his hand up and down the side of her body.

"Sebastian, do you want me in this bed or do you want me to sew?"

"Hey, you know you can still sew in bed."

"Not while I'm riding you, I can't," she said straddling him.

"Who said, you'd be on top?"

"Cause I already am."

"Not any more," he said as he rolled them over and pinned her underneath.

"Stop talking so much Sebastian, and help me with your clothes. Or I can always gag you and tie you up."

"Yeah, that's a little weird with the gag. But I don't mind being tied up and you being on top, as long as you make sure to untie me."

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind. Now shut up, and kiss me."

**_Office of Janine Hall, M.D. psychiatrist, 12 weeks later, 4:35pm_**

Kathryn was back on the cream colored couch again. This time alone. Sebastian had been right when he told her that the therapist was for her. She had called him crazy, and asked him to figure out a way to get her out of the therapy sessions. But he had refused to help saying that it would be best for her to sort out her past. If she was not going to talk to him about the past, then she should talk to a shrink.

She had been mad at him and had tried to withhold sex, but that only lasted for a week. Yeah, he was too tempting, but he hadn't played fair. He would do things like crawl into her bed naked. (Well, she had done that too, and that's how they ended up together. So, she decided that one was forgivable.) Or that time he walked out of **her** shower naked, saying his shower was too dirty to use. Yup, she eventually forgave him for all his seduction attempts; actually it had been fun to frustrate him even though she was just as frustrated.

She didn't really mind the therapy sessions now. She had been going to them for twelve weeks now, and this was her 58th one. They were basically everyday, except for weekends. Her mother was crazy for making her go so often, but she really wanted her family to be perfect before the baby was born. And the therapist had refused at first saying it wouldn't be productive, but her mother just waved money in her face and that was the end of the discussion. 'Good lesson mother,' Kathryn thought. 'Anyone can be bought'

With all the sessions, she had gotten used to talking about herself, and trusted Dr. Hall. She actually felt safe revealing personal things about herself, stuff she'd never would tell her mother. She hoped she'd eventually be able to tell Sebastian everything. That was part of the reason why she was willing to be so open with her thoughts.

"So Kathryn, tell me more about this dream of yours?" The therapist leaned closer to her and striked a thinker's pose.

She had been having these baby dreams, since she was thirteen, where there were babies kept in cubby holes, like the ones you see in preschool but only bigger. And the setting is usually a basement, barn, or open field on a farm. It's weird because she's never even been to a farm. Every dream has her saving a baby, and get this weird twist, she is saving them from _her mother_-who is this evil warden that keeps all these babies locked up. She steals the keys while her mother is sleeping and goes to rescue the babies. At first the babies are sleeping but whenever she tries to make her escape with the babies they all start crying. And being nervous and in a hurry she drops a few and they turn to glass and break into pieces with a tinkling noise. And no matter how many she tries to carry out or how many trips she makes back to the dungeon, she only ends up saving one baby. Weird dream? Yes, but it was weirder because it mirrored her real life but _before it actually happened._

Kathryn started talking about her latest dream, "Well, in this one I saved the babies with a tractor. I don't even know how to drive, let alone a tractor. Anyway, I tried to carry 5 babies; I don't know how I carried them all. I only have two arms. I ended up dropping 3 of them and they broke. But I was able to save two babies this time. And my mother was chasing me with a shotgun this time and I was crouching and running away, because the tractor wouldn't go faster than 2 miles per hour. So what do you think doc?

"Hmmmmm…you tell me."

"Well, maybe I'm okay with my mother having another baby. Like I don't feel like she's betraying me or manipulating me. Cause now there's two babies instead of one. I mean two survived, when it's suppose to be only one."

"Hmmm…interesting analysis."

"What? You don't think that's true?"

"No. I think you want it to be true."

"Wait, what are we talking about? Are we talking about the same thing? Cause I'm okay with babies. I don't have any phobias about them."

"I think you want it to be true that you are okay with your mother having a baby."

"But I am okay with it. Urrrgghhh! It is so frustrating that you tell me what I'm feeling. I thought I was suppose to tell you what I was feeling."

"Ok, Kathryn. Calm down. Do you remember when we first started our sessions?"  
"Yeah," Kathryn said tapping her shoe.

"Well, you would always come in 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes late. I knew you could have gotten in here on time if you wanted to. After all Sebastian always dropped you off on time. I know cause my administrative assistant always flirts with your brother whenever you come in. But you always stall by going to the bathroom, to the snack machine, or even saying you forgot something at home. Do see what I'm pointing out?"

"That I didn't like coming here at first?"

"Exactly!

"What's the point of pointing this out?"

"You are resisting me now, like you were resisting me then. You don't trust me."

"I do trust you. I trust you with my thoughts. I trust you to keep my secrets. What more do I have to do to make you believe I trust you?"

"Trust my judgment."

"You want me to believe your judgment that I'm only _pretending_ to be okay with the my mother's pregnancy?"

"Yes," Dr. Hall said nodding her head. "Our session is almost over, we have about 3 more minutes. Do you want to say anything else before we recap what we talked about today?"

"No, go ahead."

"Well, we talked about your stepfather and how you felt about him being home more. You feel he took your mother's side too often, and didn't have a backbone. And you think that he takes a backseat to parenting. You don't mind your mother being home, but you wish she would stop trying to spend time with you. But you are grateful that she doesn't force you to take part in planning baby stuff."

"Yeah that's all true."

"We also touched on the subject of your dreams again, although you still refuse to talk about the direct events related to them. Nor have you told me yet what caused the dreams to start up again. You told me about your most recent dream and your interpretation of the elements in your dream."

"Was there a question in there, Dr. Hall?"

"What do you think? Is there anything else you'd like to expound on?"

"Well, I think it is pretty obvious what led to my having the dreams again. My mother is having a baby," Kathryn replied matter of factly. After a moment she said, "And as for my past demons. There isn't any point in beating the point to death. I know now that it wasn't my fault. Someone died. Someone lived. And I don't blame myself anymore." Kathryn ended in a small voice.

"Kathryn, I'd like you to think on what I said about trust and the therpist-client relationship. I don't think you trust my judgment or put much faith in my profession being able to help you."

"I wouldn't take it personally, doctor. I've given up my trust on doctors a long time ago. But I _will _think about what you said."

"Ok, thank you for coming in today Kathryn," she shook Kathryn's hand and guided her out of the office. "And remember I'm going to away from my office on personal business, so I'll see you in two weeks at the same time, 4:00 pm."

"Ok, thank you too, Dr. Hall," Kathryn said as she walked into the outer office.

Sebastian stood up as the door opened. "All done then?" he asked Kathryn. She nodded and gave him a warning look. In response he said to Dr. Hall, "How are the kids, Janice? Still blossoming, I hope? You know with three girls…"

"Sebastian!" Kathryn said embarrassed as she dragged him out of the doctor's office. Dr. Hall just shook her head and muttered under her breath. He always went out of his way to make Dr. Hall dislike him, not that he hadn't accomplished that at their first meeting.

**Sebastian **

"Why do you have to be like that?" Kathryn yelled at him exasperated.

Ignoring her question he asked, "So how did it go today? Did you excise any demons?"

"These things take time Sebastian," she said as they walked to the car.

She was surprised when he took her hand in his. Usually she would prevent him from showing public displays of affection. Not like he did try much in public. They both didn't want people to get suspicious, especially since their parents recently announced to New York City's upper society the baby news.

When school started Kathryn had decided that they should be more friendly, platonicly that is. It meant mostly that Sebastian would have to change. He could no longer mess with her girlfriends or be openly rude to her in public. He also had to give up his playboy ways or at least appear to. Kathryn hadn't like that part. She would rather he gave it up for good, but he was adament that if she got to be with whomever she wanted and still have him, then he should still get to live carefree too. So pretty much they were friends with benefits, except they were also stepsiblings. She knew being stepsiblings didn't matter to Sebastian, but it still bothered her.

"I guess I can be patient a little longer. I'll just repeat my mantra, 'You'll tell me when your ready.'" He said smiling.

She was amazed he could be so mature. She knew she had made the right choice by revealing she had feelings for him. She most likely _was _in love, but she still wasn't sure. She worried that something would happen to destroy the little happiness she had now.

**Next day, at Blaine's**

"You're sure you want this?" Blaine said as he reluctantly handed over the micro cassette tape.

"Just give it to me," Sebastian snapped as he snatched the tape and put it in the breast pocket of his school jacket. "How did you get this tape by the way? Nothing too illegal, I hope?"

"Just a little blackmail."

Feeling calmer now that he had the tape, Sebastian looked at Blaine amused. "So I have nothing to worry about? She'll never find out it was me?"

"Not unless you've been fucking the receptionist. No, I don't think you have a problem," Blaine reassured him. "I still don't see why you picked Kathryn over Annette. She would have been less trouble. And besides Kathryn is a manipulative bitch."

"That's cause you're gay. She's worth it. The things she can do in bed, let alone with that delectable mouth of hers. Actually she could probably give you lessons," Sebastian said as he got up from the leather couch to leave.

"Oh, I can give you a blow, if you want to compare."

"Only in your dreams, Blaine. Thanks for this," he said tapping his chest pocket as he made a quick exit.

* * *

**PS **I meant to write a love scene, but I'm not good at that yet. So, I skipped it. Just use your imaginations, people. 

Also, the dreams I described are dreams I've actually had, and they had a totally different meaning for me. In my dreams, the babies represented some new thing I wasn't sure of and felt nervous about facing and being responsible for. And I was afraid that no one understood me, especially my mother. Basically your typical teenage anxieties.


	8. Could You Be Any More Pathetic

**Could You Be Any More Pathetic**

Sebastian was in the study at home. He had just finished listening to the tape and returned it to his jacket's pocket.

It had been a drastic step to take, going behind her back to find out what she might tell him someday soon. But Sebastian had lost his patience. He had already toed the line and followed Kathryn's rules. He pretended to be reformed, treated women respectfully, and kept his relationship with Kathryn a secret. He was nice to their parents and drove Kathryn to and from her therapy sessions.

He also wanted to find out what she said about him. For all he knew, she could be using him, and this relationship could be some sort of setup. Sebastian didn't fully trust her, and he never did say those three words, 'I love you' to her. Action spoke louder than words. He wouldn't make it easy for her to hurt him again.

The tape hadn't been all that helpful; it was just her talking about how she hated that his dad took her mother's side all the time and about some nightmares she'd been having. All in all, it was a bore and Sebastian was still in the dark as to what was bothering Kathryn. He was deep in thought when Kathryn stormed in like a whirlwind. Unhappy would have been an understatement.

"What the hell did you do!" Kathryn growled.

"Hello to you too Kathryn. My day was good. Thanks for asking." Sebastian wasn't about to incriminate himself, just cause she might know something. He would play it casual until she revealed her cards.

"I don't give a rat's ass about how your day was! Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

"Why don't you just come right out and say it, if you're accusing me of something." Sebastian said as he got up to get his school jacket that earlier he had haphazardly thrown on the opposite armchair.

Sighing she pushed him back into the armchair. "Sit," she ordered. She sat down in the other armchair, looked through her bag and pulled out a thick stack of stapled papers. "What's this!" She tossed the packet at him.

"I don't know. Did you become a novelist? It's kind of heavy," he said, catching it and testing its weight, not even looking at it. He was just relieved that she had not found out about the tape.

"Read it Sebastian. It's your journal. Annette gave it to me."

He finally looked at it, and flipped through it. It was all there, every last page. He frowned and said, "You didn't read this, did you?"

"Sebastian," she said rolling her eyes. "Of course I read it. Cut the shit. Why did you give it to her anyway? Your Goldilocks is trying to blackmail me!"

Sebastian couldn't help it. He laughed and laughed until tears came to his eyes.

"Sebastian! I'm serious! I would have taken care of it myself, but we're a team now," she finished off softly. "Now are you going to help me?"

Still chuckling, he took some deep breaths. "Sure," he said, trying to stop laughing. "What do you want me to do?"

"Really, just like that, you're going to help me? You don't even know what I want you to do."

"Yeah, why not? I'm saving some time, cause I know you would just wheedle me into helping anyway, even if I did resist."

"But resisting could be fun," she said sashaying over to him and sitting in his lap.

"Yes," he said slowly. "But first we have to take care of the Annette problem. So what did you have in mind?"

She whispered in his ear, and his eyes grew larger and larger. "I don't think that position is physically possible." He looked deep in thought and made a noise with his tongue that reminded her of a purring kitten. He shook off the image. "What about getting back at Annette?"

"Oh, she's already been taken care of. As for the position, I know it's possible; I've done it before." She nibbled at his earlobe distracting him and slowly unbuttoning his shirt.

"Why did you ask me to help you then? Why all the fake anger?"

"The anger wasn't all fake. Remember? I did read your journal. But I'm in a good mood now that Annette is out of our way," she said as she kissed her way down his now naked torso.

He said between gasps as she delved her hands into his pants, "Will I be mad at what you did?"

"Maybe," she said biting Sebastian's lower lip and licking the pain away. But only if you still care for her. And anyway, shouldn't I be mad that you gave her your journal in the first place, and what about the things you wrote about me?"

She was always using sex to deflect his attention when he was close to finding out something important. It didn't matter anymore, Sebastian had a suspicion he knew what her secret was. He also knew she wasn't all that mad about the journal, or she wouldn't even be talking to him now. And he was not going to waste time thinking about Annette when she was in his past. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter as long as you didn't kill her."

"Of course not Sebastian. I wouldn't risk going to jail just for farm girl. I only helped her find a new boyfriend."

"That was very good Samaritan thing to do," he said really looking at her. She seemed to glow with happiness.

"Yes, and I think I deserve a reward for that. A little sweet treat?" she said dropping her gaze to his waist.

"No arguments here, but remember to save your appetite for that other thing you mentioned." Sebastian didn't know what he did to get so lucky to end up with this girl. All he knew was that he would stop nothing to protect her.

_**Annette & Anthony**_

Anthony (the very hot Italian guy), working for Kathryn, took some scandalous pictures of Annette with some toys and a dog. And some pictures with him in it too, but those were only for his private collection. And he put it on the Manchester's webpage about the headmaster. Annette yelled at him, and threatened to press charges. But he blackmailed her with even more salacious pictures of him and her (not that he ever intended to follow through since Kathryn would kill him if the association got led back to her.) So Annette and her father were forced out of town out of shame.

Before she left, Annette wrote a scathing letter to Sebastian telling him 'Could you be anymore pathetic,' and said that people like him and Kathryn could never be happy together or apart. She ended up tearing it up though cause she is too nice of a person to send it. Obviously she was a little bitter about the way he broke it off the second time around, even though technically they never got back together. He just kept making plans with her and kept canceling, and eventually she got the hint.

When she met Anthony she was awestruck by how much more handsome he was compared to Sebastian. He helped save her shopping bags from falling in the gutter when a passerby had pushed her while they were crossing the street. She should have known that he was too good to be true; everything he said in his suave, sexy accent was about how much he would like to photograph her and that she could be a model.

_**Midnight**_

"Is everything alright." Sebastian turned on his side to look at her some time after their frenzied lovemaking. They were still in the study, and their parents were away together on a romantic weekend trip.

"Yeah."

"You sure? You don't look that good. Kinda pale? Anything bothering you?"

"No, it's just stress."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Well, you've already helped, but…" She pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him. She licked his lips and trailed kisses down his chest. Her heart seemed to hum as she sat up and impaled herself on him.

"I thought I tired you out?"

"Might as…well…make…use…of it," she gasped out as she rode him hard.

"As much as I'm enjoying this. I wish you'd talk to me."

"Talk about what?" she said wholely concentrated on how well they fit together.

"Tell me what's bothering you."

"Well, there's this tension right-"

"Enough of that," he said as he made the hardest decision of his sexual life. He flipped them over, pinned her beneath him, and pulled out. "Tell me about your nightmare." He held her arms down and got right in her face. She tried break free and put some distance between them, but finally gave up defeated.

"What nightmare?"

"The one that woke you over an hour ago. The one that made you need my talents."

"It was nothing. I don't even remember it."

"You were talking in your sleep. You kept saying 'Andrew, please don't go.' Who's Andrew?"

"Sebastian I'm tired. Please let's just sleep."

"No, I won't let you avoid it any longer. I think I've been extremely patient. Who's Andrew?"

"Dammit Sebastian , just let it go." She bucked him off of her and wrapped his jacket around her. She raced out of the study and into her own bedroom. Before she could slam the door, he put his foot in the door.

"You're not avoiding this anymore. Who's Andrew?" He stalked angrily into the room and slammed the door shut.

"Who's Andrew! He's my brother, my dead brother, alright! I let him die. I was supposed to watch over him. I was supposed to watch over him…" She fell to her knees clutching the jacket around her like a magic cloak that would protect her. "I was distracted by my own problems. I didn't check on him after I put him to bed. He was dead the next morning. SIDS, they said. My mother made it worse by leaving the same day I found him dead. And she didn't come back until 6 months later. My dad…he…my dad was so worried."

He knelt down on the carpet and reluctantly pulled her into a hug. He seemed uncomfortable with her turning into an emotional mess on him. Mad he could handle, but this he wasn't so sure. "I'm sorry Kathryn. That must have been hard for you."

"I hate her. I really do. And now…" She couldn't stop crying.

"And now you'll have another sibling." He let her cry. After a while he said, "It'll be different this time. We'll get a nanny."

"We had a nanny. She was sick that day, and my mother had been home taking care of Andrew. Then she just dumped him on me saying I needed to learn responsibility and hard a baby could be."

He wiped her tears away and tucked her chestnut hair behind her ears as he considered his next words carefully. "How old were you when this happened, and did anything else happen?"

"Thirteen. As if my baby brother dying and my mother leaving isn't memorable enough? Why do you think there is more?" She had a hollow look on her face. He thought back to what he heard on that tape: it just didn't make any sense why her mother would be chasing her with a shotgun in her dreams or not want her to save the babies. He wanted to know more, but he was scared to find out what else happened. He would never have imagined that she had a baby brother and that he had died. He thought it had been something else, something that her father might have inappropriately done.


	9. Curtain Call: The Characters Pt 1

**Curtain Call: The Characters**

_**Blaine the Protector** _

Blaine had made a tape of his own, of when Sebastian had come over for the tape. 'Sebastian, you should have just refused the tape,' he thought. He was upset with Sebastian; he had hoped that he wouldn't have to cause problems for his two favorite lovebirds. Although both of them were his friends, he had known Kathryn longer. Besides the fact that Sebastian was being sneaky, he hadn't defended her when Blaine called her a manipulative bitch. Sebastian had gone as far as insinuating that he was only with her for sex. Ever since Blaine had met Kathryn when he was fifteen and she was thirteen, he had admired her courage and determination. She was the beautiful girl with sad brown eyes that knocked on his parents' door, and asked him for his help.

Blaine decided to deliver the tape to Kathryn personally. He had to do it, because she was like a sister to him, someone he would always feel compelled to look after. It was extremely quiet as the butler let him in. He walked straight to Kathryn's room, but she wasn't there. She wasn't in Sebastian's room either. He was about to leave, but then he heard running feet and raised voices. Peeking out of Sebastian's room, he got an eyeful of Sebastian's naked backside. It seemed he had come at a bad time. He waited two hours to be safe, and then snuck back into Kathryn's room.

His eyes took in the cold, grave room and the pair of siblings. The room was neat, and the bed was made. Sebastian was sitting on the bed totally naked and seemed perfectly comfortable but deep in thought, in other words his normal self. Kathryn, on the other hand, was an utter mess: Her hair was mussed, her mascara smudged, and her face was pale. She was also curled up fast asleep on the window bench with Sebastian's jacket draped on her as a blanket.

"What are you doing here?" Sebastian kept his voice low, but Blaine could still hear the tiredness in it.

"There are some things in her life you don't know about. I don't think you are good for her Sebastian. I guess I'm here to warn her about you." Blaine had never been one to beat around the bush. He liked things to be simple and real. He had enough of playing pretend when he had to hide his homosexuality from his parents. But thankfully they had died when he was seventeen, and he could now live his life the way he wanted. The only people he considered family now were his older sister, Matthew, and Kathryn, in that order.

"Since when have you been so interested in protecting her from me?"

"Like I said, you don't know her as well as you think."

"What exactly is it, that you think you know, that I don't know?"

"I'm not here to compare notes. I'd like to talk to Kathryn."

"Well, she's resting."

"You're not her keeper."

"This is ridiculous Blaine. Just leave a message or come back tomorrow at a decent time."

Blaine considered leaving the tape, but he didn't trust that Sebastian wouldn't listen to it. "I'll come back in the morning."

_**Blaine- The next morning**_

Blaine arrived the next morning at the Valmont townhouse to try to give Kathryn the tape again. He was surprised when the butler led him to a domestic breakfast scene in the _kitchen_. Kathryn and Sebastian were eating eggs, pancakes and bacon in the steel, industrial looking kitchen. It was a place designed for efficiency, not comfort or entertaining guests. Right now it seemed that the two masters of the house were putting the kitchen to use. It looked like someone had _tried_ to make breakfast; there was two pancakes stuck to the ceiling, some broken eggs on the floor, a burnt towel, and various ingredients sprinkled around.

"Hi Blaine, what are you doing here?" Kathryn got up and got another barstool so Blaine could sit down at the steel counter.

"Hi Sebastian," he greeted first, patting him on the shoulder. "It looks like someone had an experiment that blew up in here. Are those pancakes up there?" He pointed to the ceiling and smirked at Kathryn.

"Aaahhhh, that was Sebastian. He made breakfast."

"At least I didn't burn the towel _and_ the bacon."

"You're the one who asked me for help. And anyway it was my first time cooking, so I think I did pretty well." She picked up a bacon strip and ate it, "It's just crisp, it's still good."

Blaine smiled and chuckled softly. He almost felt bad about what he was about to do. "Kathryn, I have something new to show you. Why don't we go somewhere…"

"Ok, sure. Be right back, Sebastian." She gave him a quick kiss and tousled his hair as she left.

Blaine and Kathryn started off in the direction of her room, but he stopped her when she went to open her door.

"No, Sebastian's room." He opened the door opposite hers and stepped in.

"What's going on Blaine? You're making me nervous."

He tugged her into the room, and shut and locked the door. He then proceeded to check the closet and every nook and cranny that a camera or bug could be planted in. After twenty minutes he was satisfied. "Ok, I think it's safe to talk."

"Oookaayyy, are you going to tell me what this is about? Why are you being so cryptic?" He simply handed her the small tape.

"What's this?"

"Just listen to it." He went to Sebastian's desk and looked for a microcassette player. Then he looked at Sebastian's jacket on the chair and remembered. He went through the pockets looking for the evidence, but it wasn't there. "Shit, where did he put it?"

She walked over to the bed and sat down. "Are you looking for something to play this? I think it's in his nightstand along with his Playgirl magazines." She smirked at his look. "It's not like that; he's not interested in men. He took them from me, cause he _said_ that my mother would be upset if she found those kind of magazines in my room," she said mocking Sebastian as she retrieved the microcassette player. She removed the tape that was already in there, placed it on the nightstand, and put in the new one. She listened to it; Blaine watched her as her amused smile changed to a frown.

"_You're sure you want this"_

"_Just give it to me. How did you get this tape by the way? Nothing too illegal, I hope?"_

"_Just a little blackmail." _

"_So I have nothing to worry about? She'll never find out it was me?"_

"_Not unless you've been fucking the receptionist. No, I don't think you have a problem. I still don't see why you picked Kathryn over Annette. She would have been less trouble. And besides Kathryn is a manipulative bitch."_

"_That's cause you're gay. She's worth it. The things she can do in bed, let alone with that delectable mouth of hers. Actually she could probably give you lessons."_

"What the hell is this?" She stood up outraged.

"Sebastian wanted a copy of your therapy session. I only got him one of them, the latest one. And I don't think he got any others, cause he came and asked me first to help him. I would have refused, but I was afraid he just find some other way to get all the copies of the sessions. At least the tape he got was innocuous."

"You have to get me a copy of that tape."

"It was hard to get in the first place. You'll have better luck getting that tape from Sebastian."

"You got it from the receptionist? I always wondered why he was flirting with her. Cause if he was trying to make me jealous I could care less."

"Yeah right, and Sebastian doesn't get jealous when you date a guy," Blaine's words dripped with sarcasm.

"Well, thank you for bringing this to my attention. Now, did you have any sweets to sell me or friends you'd like to share?"

"Kathryn I think the last thing you need right now is to hide away from your sorrows. I regret every introducing you to that stuff."

"I think you've overstayed your welcome. You know the way out." She turned her back on him.

"You know Matthew keeps asking me 'Where's Auntie Kathy?' He misses you and hasn't seen you since…since you got together with Sebastian."

"I don't fucking care! Now get out!"

"Alright, but you know where to find us."


	10. Curtain Call: The Characters Pt2&3

**Curtain Call: The Characters (Pt. 2) **

_**Kathryn the Woman Scorned**_

When her mother left it had been a blessing and a curse. She still blamed herself for her mother leaving which ultimately caused her father to die. For that, yes, Kathryn blamed _her_. It wasn't something as simple as a broken heart; it was stress, anxiety, and a heart attack over what Tiffany would do when she found out that he had contradicted a decision of hers. Her mother was used to getting her way. But Kathryn's beloved father had finally developed a backbone and let nature run its course- to hell with his wife. And it proved to Tiffany's chagrin that he loved Kathryn more.

Kathryn still remembered how hard it was to bring up the subject and with her baby brother dead less than 5 days ago…but she had to.

_**Four years ago, 5 days after Andrew's death…**_

"_Daddy? You know what mother said about that thing…"_

"_What Kathryn? I'm just so tired. I just want to sleep. Can this wait till tomorrow?"_

"_That's the thing, Daddy. Do you know what tomorrow is? What I have to…"_

"_Honey, it's okay. Don't cry. You're so young. You won't ever remember it. It'll just become a faded memory." He held me in his lap and stroked her hair._

"_Please. Mom's gone now, and…Andrew is ddd…gone too."_

"_Ok, Let me think about it."_

"_Alright."_

So, even though her mother had already decided that Kathryn should get it done; her father was the only one around during that time-so he decided to let Kathryn make the choice. He thought it would be less traumatic if she had some control over the situation. And she was also his little girl, the one that he had given innumerable piggyback rides to and the one who was always at the door to enthusiastically greet him when he came home. She was the last person he wanted to disappoint, and he could not bear to let anything hurt her. With his wife away on her impromptu trip, it had been easier to do what he felt was right. Still though, he worried about what would ultimately happen when Tiffany came back. He wasn't dumb; he knew that his thirteen-year-old daughter would eventually have to give up what society wouldn't let her have. His heart ached for her, and he was petrified of what his wife's reaction would be when she found out he broke their united front.

They had already discussed their daughter's situation and had decided that the "treatment", as Tiffany called it, would be the best plan. Edward had needed some convincing to agree, and now that Andres was dead Edward was reluctant to force his only other child to suffer another loss. He wondered what his Kathryn would be like in the coming years as a result of Tiffany's need for the illusion of perfection.

A lifetime ago, Kathryn felt she had fallen into a hole that she would never be able to get out of. She felt isolated and numb. Her mother had returned after her father had died suddenly. Tiffany had taken one look at her daughter and given her a look that Kathryn had later learned to emulate: a condescending look that is able to break the strongest person's self-esteem. And at that time, Kathryn was 180 degrees from the cold-hearted person she was today.

_**From the Mouth of Babes**_

_**4 years ago, 6 months after Andrews death, 36 hours after Kathryn's father's death…**_

Kathryn didn't go out much anymore, not that she had to. The staff at the place she was staying at for the past 5 months, on Long Island, provided everything she needed or wanted. She lived in the mausoleum-like estate of her father's longtime friend, Howard Tuttle- who happened to be conveniently on an indefinite vacation with his family in the south of France. It felt even more empty and hollow now that her father was gone. She stared out at the ocean view through the glass wall of the observatory contemplating the turn of events that lead her to be hiding from the Upper East Side (and all of high society for that matter).

Kathryn heard the old door slowly creak open, and the light tapping of stiletto heels on the brick walkway.

"I was wondering when you would get back." Inside Kathryn was on pins and needles about this confrontation. She didn't turn around right away, delaying the inevitable. Then again, her mother probably already knew; Tiffany was always in control of every little thing. Well, except obviously for one thing- Kathryn- she had never been able to predictably control her.

"Well, I thought it was the right time to come back, seeing as to how my husband has died and my daughter has been missing for 5 months."

"Oh, so you only came back to play the bereaved widow and caring mother." Kathryn waited for her mother's reprimand but was surprised by the silence. "Why did you come back?" She felt her mother walk towards her, and she closed her eyes as she breathed her mother's familiar scent. It should have been comforting, but the spicy, thick scent brought up stomachaches and memories of the scoldings and criticisms that her mother had always given her. Kathryn never felt she was good enough or lovable enough for her.

Tiffany opened her arms to pull her in a hug, but hesitated and instead stood next to her and adopted the same stance while looking out at the view. "The funeral's in 5 days." She waited a moment. "You won't be going, of course. There's no reason to ruin your reputation."

"You mean your reputation. Good to see that nothing's changed mother. You still have no heart," Kathryn said, turning towards her mother as she crossed her arms under her chest and above her burgeoning belly.

"My God Kathryn, look at you!" And there was that look.

"Don't act surprised; you're the first I told about the baby."

"How could you do this to me? Things would have been fine if you had just followed the plan and gotten the treatment as planned. Now…well it's not all ruined, perhaps-"

"Mother. I'm keeping him."

"Honey, you're only a child yourself, and I think as the responsible adult…I'm only thinking of your future."

"NO, no, no. No! I'm keeping him. I don't care what it does to your reputation, my reputation. It's not like we don't have the money. And anyway daddy said I could do what I think was best." Kathryn was desperate and was begging now. "We could name him Andrew II and you could adopt him and…I'll do anything you want; I'll lose 10 pounds and I'd even join the cheerleading squad like you wanted me too."

Yes, a lifetime ago Kathryn thought that the worse had happened to her. From then on she thought that there was nothing that could hurt her as much. Everything compared to that was endurable, attainable, and emotionally painless. She built walls around her heart to protect what little bit of it that had survived after her mother's manipulations. But then Sebastian had broken her trust; she felt there was nothing else she could do but to hurt him back after he had deviously try to pry into her past.

**Curtain Call: The Characters (Pt. 3) **

**_Sebastian the Harlequin_**

Sebastian had enough of treating Kathryn like a delicate flower. He was ready to show Kathryn what he really thought of her. Actually he was really angry with her for ignoring him, and treating him as only a brother. Looking at himself in the mirror, he sneered in disgust. It was terrible how he had turned into a simpering, lovesick fool. He would just love to hurt her where she was most vulnerable. _Ha, that's exactly the kind of thing their dysfunctional family did. _

The Queen of Dysfunctionaka the stepmother with a heart of stone, had really messed up badly when she left after her infant's death. Sebastian had stopped trying to figure out how or why the woman could have left her family after such a tragedy. A normal family, even his father, would have shown more consideration. And it was also odd since Tiffany was so concerned about keeping up appearances of a rich and happy wife. She left quite suddenly and returned quite suddenly. He wondered what made her come back, well besides that it coincided with her husband's death. Most would think that a spouse's death would be enough cause, but Sebastian knew better. The woman had too much concern for herself, and too little regard for others.

Taking one last look at his reflection, he adjusted his tie and smoothed his suit down. He was ready. Tonight was a very important night: the Valmont's were throwing a baby shower.

* * *

"Kathryn, stop being such a bitch. I'm tired of you treating me like shit!"

Kathryn felt Sebastian tug her arm, and she didn't resist as he pulled her into the vestibule. She thought by arriving to the party late she could avoid being alone with him. He pushed her up against the wall, got in her face and berated her. Turning her head away from him, she tuned him out. She was good at it; after all she had lots of practice recently.

It had been six weeks since she had found out about his breach of trust. The only reason she was at the party was that her mother had threatened her allowance. She hated losing control, and lately she felt that old memories were causing her to be weak and "emotional." So the last thing she needed right now was high dramatics from a crazed ex-boyfriend. Well, it seemed that Sebastian was no longer happy with just twilight tryst, and nothing more than that. She ignored him the rest of the time during waking hours. She had ended things with him, she thought, pretty maturely. At first she had planned on getting him back, and hurting him by making him jealous by dating Anthony, but she was too tired to follow through with it.

"-And I've had enough of this! I've had enough of this family. God, sometimes I really hate you, and I wonder what I ever thought was ever so special about you."

She caught the tail end of what he said and was struck by how enraged his green eyes were. _He must really hate. That's what I want, isn't it?_

Then Tiffany rushed in, breaking the intense staring match between the stepsiblings. "Kathryn! There you are! You're late; I've been waiting for you. Hi, Sebastian. You sure took your time getting her for me." Tiffany walked, or sort of waddled, as gracefully as a very pregnant woman can. She expected that they would follow her.

"Ladies first," he said waving her to enter ahead of him.

"A few seconds ago you were pointing out how I wasn't one."

"Look Kathryn, the last thing I want to do is be your enemy. It's much more fun if we are on the same side. I don't hate you, at least not always." He chuckled. She tilted her head to the side and quirked her eyebrows. Nervously putting his hands in his pants pocket he shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "Sometimes I wish I did hate you."

It was the closest to an "I love you." that she thought she would ever get from him. She walked away confused. But she didn't care, right?

* * *

Sebastian entered the ballroom. It was opulently decorated and expensively catered as always. And the women rivaled the scrumptious food served, and they were much bettered packaged. He scanned the crowd and then nodded his head satisfied that there was no one else that caught his interest. He believed wholeheartedly in what he was about to do. Tonight was an important night: Either he would leave a fool or he would get all he ever wanted. 


	11. Curtain Call: The Characters Pt 3 contin

**Curtain Call: The Characters (Pt. 3 Continued) _Sebastian the Harlequin_**

**_Show Me_**

For the rest of the night, Kathryn could not stop thinking about the almost "I love you." She tried to get it out of her head. Through all the socializing and fake good cheer about the upcoming addition to the family, Kathryn toyed with the idea about having her own happy family someday. She hoped it would be with Sebastian, but she had no desire to end up like their parents.

"Care to dance?" Blaine walked up behind her casually. It had been weeks since they spoken, or since she thrown him out- whichever way you wanted to interpret it.

_Some love is just a lie of the heart  
The cold remains of what began with a passionate start  
And they may not want it to end  
But it will it's just a question of when_

"No, but thank you. Actually I owe you an apology for yelling at you and being mad at you all these weeks."

"No, it's all right. We've been friends for quite a while. I can take a little abuse."

She looked away and chuckled softly. After a while she said, "I wish things were different."

"Oh? In what way?"

"You know…" She let the words hang thickly in the air. "I've been thinking about my dad, and—Did you ever want to be able to do things differently? To be able to go back in time and with the knowledge you have now, I don't know, not exactly change things- because I would never want to change who I am today. But…I don't know. Am I making any sense?"

"Kathryn, don't do this to yourself. You made the best choice you could at the time."

"I feel like I sold him though."

"Well, you didn't have many options. Keep him, lose all your fortune, and live in the foster care system or live with your mother in the custom you were used to but without him."

"Yes, I remember my mother giving me those two choices. I wish-"

"Kathryn! Just let it be. Make the most of the opportunities you have now. Allow yourself to be happy."

"And what exactly do you think would make me happy? Cause I don't know."

"Why don't you start by talking to your family." He nodded his head toward the three people headed her way: her mother, her stepfather, and Sebastian.

_  
I've lived long enough to have learned  
The closer you get to the fire the more you get burned  
But that won't happen to us  
Because it's always been a matter of trust_

"It seems the Mother of the Year is going to address the masses," Sebastian leaned in and said low enough for only Blaine and her to hear.

"Well this is a family matter, so I'll just blend into the crowd."

"Like that would ever happen," Sebastian teased Blaine as he left.

She felt him look at her, and hoped he wouldn't stare. She felt uncharacteristicly shy and uncomfortable. She knew there was no way he knew what she had just been talking about, but- all the same- she felt guilty for not trusting him enough to tell him everything. But he doesn't seem like a person she could trust. Afterall, all he simply had to do was wait for her to be ready to tell him her secret, but he had betrayed her trust. He would never change. 

I know you're an emotional girl  
It took a lot for you to not lose your faith in this world  
I can't offer you proof  
But you're going to face a moment of truth  
It's hard when you're always afraid

"Kathryn, Sebastian. I would like you guys to say a few things about your mother. Some warm wishes, happy thoughts, that sort of thing." Edward quickly glanced at the pair of teenagers, saw how close they were, but dismissed it as siblings sharing their dislike of parental rules. He lead his wife away to tend to their guests, and didn't give them another thought.

_  
You just recover when another belief is betrayed  
So break my heart of you must  
It's a matter of trust_

Kathryn was surprised when Sebastian took both of her hands in his and stared deeply into her eyes. "Kathryn, you trust me, right?"

She shook her head no, but she said "Yeah, sure."

You can't go the distance  
With too much resistance  
I know you have doubts  
But for God's sake don't shut me out

He pulled her toward the front of the room, where their parents were. She looked at him, and noticed the determined, defiant look on his face. Oh, God, she was not going to like this. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. Ok, it couldn't be that bad, just keep smiling.

Tiffany had just told some joke that may or may not have been funny. People had laughed anyway.

Kathryn really wasn't paying too much attention. She was too distracted with trying to figure out what Sebastian was up to. Something was not right; goose bumps ran up and down her arm. Pulling her hand free from his, she said, "Sebastian, whatever-"

"I would like to make a toast," Sebastian said ignoring her, and raising his glass of non-alcoholic, sparkling juice to the crowd. "I would first like to say a few words to my dad." Pivoting to his dad, "Dad, you provided a roof over my head, food in my belly, a enormous supply of money that would make Grandfather roll over in his grave, and a number of other things, but let us not forget the most important-" He smiled condescendingly at the crowd, and waited for his backhanded compliment to sink in.

_Just let the axe fall, already._ Kathryn rolled her eyes, she hated all the posturing and when Sebastian acted all supreme and above everyone. 

This time you've got nothing to lose  
You can take it, you can leave it  
Whatever you choose  
I won't hold back anything  
And I'll walk away a fool or a king

He turned toward his stepsister and took her hand in his. "Kathryn…" Then he looked back at the crowd and then to his left, at his dad. He smirked. "Thank you, Dad. I think your job is done. I think there is nothing more you can teach me. I've already learned how to seduce-"

Kathryn pulled her hand out of as if she had been zapped. He smiled at her and mouthed, trust me.

_  
Some love is just a lie of the mind  
It's make believe until its only a matter of time  
And some might have learned to adjust  
But then it never was a matter of trust_

"to seduce countless women. And I have learned my charming ways from dear old dad, but one thing I do not plan on following in the Valmont tradition is cheating on any wife I marry."

"Now wait a minute!" Edward interjected. He tried to grab a hold of Sebastian, but Sebastian backed up quickly knocking into Kathryn, who fell down in a flurry of tulle and blue satin. She scowled at Sebastian. He offered to help her up, but she angrily got up quite quickly for a person dressed in a full skirted ballgown (which her mother had picked out).

It was pretty much chaos. People were breaking up in small groups gossiping and chuckling, and some were even leaving the room, no doubt to spread the gossip as soon as possible.

Edward was yelling obscenities while trying to deny any philandering to his wife. But she was ignoring him like she did his indiscretions that she had always known about. Instead of talking with him, Tiffany was talking to her friends trying to quell the damage.

I'm sure you're aware love  
We've both had our share of  
Believing too long  
When the whole situation was wrong

And all the while Kathryn stood there like a deer caught in the headlights unsure of whether to run away or laugh her head off. She was so relieved that Sebastian hadn't gone and revealed their relationship to everyone like she was afraid he might. 

Some love is just a lie of the soul  
A constant battle for the ultimate state of control

"Kathryn!" She heard her name, turned and smiled at Sebastian, amused at how he managed to turn the façade of the family's happy baby shower into a melodrama.

"I have something else to say!" Sebastian shouted over the melee. "First off," turning to his dad, "I would like to divorce from the family. I've already gone over it with some lawyers and I can do it. I'm eighteen, and I can still have my trust fund when I'm 25. So there is nothing you can do. I'm free from this crazy family."

_  
After you've heard lie upon lie  
There can hardly be a question of why  
Some love is just a lie of the heart  
The cold remains of what began with a passionate start_

Kathryn couldn't believe what she just heard. Maybe it was wrong, Maybe it was just a dream. He said he loved her…Well he never said it per se. But he did love her, didn't he? Did he see her as part of the crazy family he wanted to get away from? She shouldn't care, they weren't even together anymore. He didn't matter, there were other guys.

And there were many other people in her life, like her friends at school, Blaine, Matthew, her mother, and even her stepfather if she ever did want to get to know him better than just the guy her mother married. Yes, she had a full life filled people. There was no way she would be lonely or mope around missing him. It was no big deal; she had practically lived the past month without him.

Kathryn watched as Sebastian and his father talked in the corner in urgent and hushed tones. The way the were arguing, she thought that one of them would storm off, but was surprised when Edward patted Sebastian's shoulder in a _fatherly_ way. They continued to whisper as if they were trying to negotiate a world peace treaty. She gave up on trying to figure out what odd glamour had caused them to act uncharacteristically.

Instead she focused on Sebastian. She was going to miss the way his blonde hair curled around her finger, and how nice it was to run her hands through it when she got lost in his kisses. And then there was his unique scent, waking up next to him in the morning, and the way the stubble from his 5'o clock shadow would leave rashes in the most interesting places. Well, actually she wouldn't miss that.

_Ok, one more moment to think about the past, then she would take Blaine's advice and not dwell on the past._ She allowed one tear to escape but wiped it away quickly. She had only let Sebastian see her cry that one time, and that was enough. She wasn't going to revert to some scared little child. The thing was, she didn't think she could hold back the emotions any longer. The up and down of the stress of the day had tired her out. She headed toward the exit.

"Kathryn, wait!" Sebastian raced up to her, ran his hand through his hair, and nervously adjusted his suit jacket.  
"I-I-I-Iiii"

"What? Just get it out. Look, I've got things to do. I don't have all-"

"I-Iloveyou."

"What!"

"I love you," he said slower. "I love you! I love you! I love Kathryn Marie Merteuil."

"What do you think you're doing?"

_Some love is just a lie of the heart  
The cold remains of what began with a passionate start_

_But that can't happen to us  
Because it's always been a matter of trust_

"I've been thinking about it, and I know how we can be together." By now everybody in the room was riveted by the two teens by the doorway. Practically everyone from Manchester Prep and their prominent families were there.

"Sebastian, are you crazy? There is no 'we.'"

"But, I love you!"

"I'm sorry, I don't feel that way about you." She tried to leave once again, but Sebastian gripped her shoulders and kissed her hard. She shoved him away. "You're my brother. Get it in your head, I don't love you!"

He stared at her and angled his head to get a better look at her face. "I don't believe you."

"Urghh! I am so glad you are not going to be my brother anymore."

"That's the point. I love you, and-"

"Look Sebastian you're causing a scene. You can't always get what you want. It's not all about sex and good looks."

"That's not what said you two nights ago in my bed."

Blaine tried to diffuse the tense situation. "Hey, I don't think this is the way to go about this."

"Why are you making up these lies?" Kathryn said trying to pretend that this was a simple case of unrequited, twisted love.

"Kathryn, here it is. I've been trying to tell you this all night. I love you, and I want to-"

Now it was Edward's turn to interupt. "Son, I don't think this is such a good idea."

"Marry me Kathryn!"

"What!"

"Marry me, I love you and I would do everything to make you happy."

"Sebastian, you're really crazy." The last thing she expected was him to propose.

"Alright, fine, I'm crazy! Now tell me, will you marry me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm sorry, Sebastian. You're only a brother to me."

"Stepbrother! And, anyway, soon to be ex-stepbrother. What is the real reason that you don't want to be my wife?"

"I need another reason besides that?" Sebastian nods his head determinedly. "Well, for one thing, I don't love you. And for another, I can't trust you. And a third reason is…our parents are having _a baby_, if you haven't noticed!"

Softly he said, "You do love me. You're just afraid to love me, afraid to depend on me too much. You may want to runaway from what we have, but I won't let you."

"Sebastian," Kathryn looked around anxiously at the very interested crowd. "This is not the place to discuss this." Louder, she said, "I know you have an obsession with me, but to make up these delusions of an imaginery love affair is beyond pathetic." With a florish, she tried to leave again.

"Damn it! Don't walk away from me."

She stopped.

"All those times together, was it just sex to you?"

She turned around slowly. "What!"

"You heard me! What did it mean to you?"

"Sebastian, why do you insist on carry on with this charade? I thought we had enough actors in our family, and by that I mean our parents."

"Well, we both know what the truth is. I love you, and I'm willing to live like a pauper until I'm 25 and get my trust fund. Or I'll even get a job. I'd do anything to make you choose me. Show me you love me: Stand by me or continue to pretend to the world that all I said were lies. That the way I just kissed you didn't curl your toes. That you don't like it when I kiss the back of y-"

"Urgh. Enough! I really don't feel _anything_ for you. How many times do I have to say that?"

"I guess you made your choice." He brushed his shoulder past her roughly as he walked out of the room.

"Sebastian, wait," she said softly. But he had already left. She said even softer, "I love you too."

Her mother rushed up to her and gathered her up in a hug. She accepted it, and let it remind her of another time when her mother had meant everything to her. It was before her mother had betrayed her.


End file.
